ahhh, to be back

[MacAx]

Feels so good!

i've not played d2 for a year and a half, but winter came and i was curious about the 1.10 patch, so i'm back on EU hc ladder and having a blast, still havent dared to enter hell so i've got a barb and sorc in the last nm act.

things have changed i see, so i thought you might fill me in on hot xp areas besides baal, where do people mf now, and so on.

thanks a bunch ahead

you can find me on *MacAx on europe realm CET evenings

[MoUsE_WiZ]

MF:
-The Pits in Tamoe Highlands (generally summoners, but various characters can do it)
-Ancient Tunnels in Lost City (cold sorc dream)
-Masoleum/Crypt in Burial Grounds (ditto)
-Hell Andy (No cold immunes here either...)
-NM baal (they both drop about the same, baal has a better chance of dropping shako/wiz than hell andy, andy has better chance at SoJ, niether can drop SS)
-And of course meph, pindle, eldritch, shenk/norm + nm cows for LLD

Exp:
It's possible to level to 90 doing E/S/P runs if you want to avoid baals...the CS is nice exp up till then too depending on the character, and is another good mf spot that I just randomly didn't list above for any lightning character or necro
Anything past ~90 (specifically past 95) requires baals unless you're stupidly persistent and hit 98, at which point "clear" the CS while one party does minions, then kill baal while they make ng
NM cows are a bit slower exp than NM baal, but still adequately(sp?) fast if you can clear them while the main party is baaling
In normal the leeching system looks like:
-Trist to ~12
-Sewers to ~15
-Tombs to 20
-Cows to 24 (or trav runs)
-Ancients
-Baal
Throw in enchant at any point to speed it up more...or do that "playing the game" thing

Things to watch for:
-Virtually any class can use trigger hacks to kill you, especially low levels, with one skill or another...hammers/traps/hydras/meteor are about the only things that can't be used
-It's possible to get a rogue merc to shoot arrows into town, don't hang around the edge of town watching duels if someone's hostile. There's also a way to get a meteor to drop in town I believe, but I'm not entirely sure how.
-The WP timer doesn't work, so don't rely on 5 seconds after being hostiled
-A TP to the wrong act (IE to Arreat Summit in A1) is a method of killing the curious people who take it

[Valar-Wrath]

or do that "playing the game" thing

Huh? What's that? Don't think I've ever heard of that before...



Oh and once you get to hell meph, use the first drop trick. If you don't know what that is just say so and I'll explain it or someone else will. But I'm not explaining it if you already know what it is :)

[MacAx]

thanks alot, tons of nice info!

i havent ventured much into hell yet, need some more res gear before that, and i guess those act 1+2 spots are hell only, so meph and baal nm is probably my best shots still

i'm pretty much fire sorc with meteor and quite a few points in synergies, have one point in FO and CM, and lvl 66 now, thinking about going heavy on the FO now, just not sure if that will leave my meteor strong enough

what are E/S/P runs? :)

whats LLD? :)

and no cant quite say about first drop method..fill me in

thanks!

MacAx

ps: i didnt come to "play the game" I WANT RAW POWER!

[Valar-Wrath]

thanks alot, tons of nice info!

i havent ventured much into hell yet, need some more res gear before that, and i guess those act 1+2 spots are hell only, so meph and baal nm is probably my best shots still

i'm pretty much fire sorc with meteor and quite a few points in synergies, have one point in FO and CM, and lvl 66 now, thinking about going heavy on the FO now, just not sure if that will leave my meteor strong enough

what are E/S/P runs? :)

whats LLD? :)

and no cant quite say about first drop method..fill me in

thanks!

MacAx

ps: i didnt come to "play the game" I WANT RAW POWER!


E/S/P Runs are Eldritch( super unique boss right next to the frigid wp in a5), Shenk(Other super unique boss in the bloody foothills close to frigid wp in a5), and Pindle Runs(Super unique boss in the area that you find when going through anya's red portal after saving her.)

LLD= Low level dueling. This is done and talked about A LOT around here.

The first drop goes something like this...

The first time you kill a boss for the quest, you get a better drop than you normally would after killing him the second, third, fourth, etc time.

Take your sorceress for example. When you reach hell mode, you do the quests for act 1 and act 2, killing duriel and andariel. When you get to act 3, you do all the quests leading up to Mephisto but do NOT kill him. So basically you get to the point where it says in your quest log: "Kill Mephisto"

Now, you exit the game and can either join a game or make a game with another character THAT HAS ALREADY DONE the Mephisto quest. So in your quest log it says: "Cannot complete this quest" Then you kill Mephisto and basically get a better drop rate because the game treats it as if you're killing him for the quest when you really don't get quest.

Then, you can keep going into other people's games that have done the quest or make games with another character that has done the quest.

Some people say that they don't notice a difference but I certainly did. I got an soj in the first few days I tried it off Meph. But Then I accidentally did the quest and can't do first drop anymore.

I don't know the exact numbers for the drop rate but your chances for a better drop increase a good amount.

Someone else may be able to explain this better but that's basically what you do.

As for your sorc. You are basically making a meteorb sorc and there is a guide for one of those builds here : http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=254070

If you've got any other questions, fire away.

Good luck with the sorc :)


-Valar-

[MacAx]

great thanks a bunch, i'll give that first drop thing a chance, sounds like a tough one to keep though

ahh the good 'ole low lvl duels, i'll surely get into that, allready found a nice eth claw i wanna try out.

you've been most helpfull, thanks!